Best PlacesAustin, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Austin, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Austin ranks 36,190th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Austin
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Austin's strengths and weaknesses
Where Austin ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 94% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 93% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 93% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 84% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 74% of towns
Where Austin ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Household income$52,973 median, better than only 16% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 17% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Austin
A household needs to earn about $33,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Austin home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $52,973, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Austin's effective rate of 0.99%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Austin
Austin runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Austin.
Who works in Austin, and how
Work in Austin centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Austin
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Austin.
What the weather is like in Austin, month by month
Austin sees roughly 76 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 17. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 25° | 17° |
| April | 59° | 46° | 34° |
| July | 82° | 69° | 56° |
| October | 63° | 51° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Austin
The nearest airport, Bradford Regional, is about 31 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 137 miles away.
The best schools in and around Austin
Schools across Austin average a B, better than 66% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Smethport Area El SchA+ · 80% proficient
- Woodland El SchA · 65% proficient
- Coudersport Area El SchB · 47% proficient
Top high schools
- Smethport Area JshsB · 50% proficient
- Austin Area JshsB · 47% proficient
- Coudersport Area JshsC+ · 38% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Austin school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Austin measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Austin against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Austin
Is Austin a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Austin ranks 36,190th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, a stable housing market, and heat safety, and lowest on a weak job market and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Austin expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $123,249. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $52,973 median income, cost of living beats 17% of towns.
Is Austin safe?
Austin is safer than 40% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $286 per resident a year.
Compare Austin with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Austin. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Austin represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Austin detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Austin: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Austin: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Austin: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Austin: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Austin detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.